Casualty of War
by TheyreSkittlesStupid
Summary: One-Shot: During the current Great Shinobi War, Shikamaru finds himself worn out on the battlefield. However, as a new enemy aproaches, he must make a drastic decision if he wants to protect his friends. Rated T for minor gore.


Disclaimer: As this is _FanFiction_ . net, this is a piece of FanFiction. I don't own any of the characters; Masashi Kishimoto does. Now, feel free to continue.

The war had been going on for over a week nonstop, with little sign of slowing down.

Shikamaru stood, panting, with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He had been fighting for over twenty hours straight. His chakra was exhausted, as was his body, and he didn't know if he could hold on for much longer.

The problem was that the rest of his squad seemed to be faring similarly. They had to push on; they were the only army protecting this area. He saw Ino on the ground, heaving up God knows what, having just dispatched a poison gas-using enemy with the help of a few Grass ninja. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chouji as he pounded an enemy into the ground with a fist enlarged to the size of a small room. He knew that his big-boned friend had already had to eat one of the special Akimichi soldier pills. How much longer could he last before having to take the second?

Shikamaru groaned, and then popped a regular soldier ration pill into his mouth: his third that day. He knew it was highly unwise to rely on such supplements, which was why he'd only ever used them about two other times in his ninja career, but right now he didn't know what other choice he had.

Relief flooded through his veins as he felt his chakra replenish itself, but it was replaced by worry. His muscles were still weak because after all this wear and tear, there was no way even a pill could completely mend them. With luck he would be able to stick with long-distance jutsu for his next opponent; if he came face-to-face with a short-range fighter he knew it was over for him.

Taking his brief respite, Shikamaru sat down on a nearby rock and looked grimly at the damage surrounding him. He wanted to show this scene to everyone who glamorized war or thought that shinobi had cushy jobs. Blood was splattered everywhere, alongside various limbs. Scraps of clothing and weapons were littering the ground. But the worst part was the number of bodies. There were dozens, sprawled in every position possible, some bleeding, some dismembered, some recognized as human only by the torn pieces of clothing that still covered them.

The thing with this war was that, given the zombie-esque nature of the enemies, each body you saw was that of an ally. And there were plenty of bodies around. Shikamaru thought he recognized some of their Rain friends, but he wasn't about to get closer and find out now. With a sigh of relief, he realized that he didn't identify anybody from Konoha.

His stomach lurched as, upon turning to the right, he saw the mangled body of a boy who couldn't have been older than thirteen. _Utter madness,_ he thought to himself. He couldn't even comprehend wanting what was essentially world dominance badly enough to kill hundreds- thousands? probably- of innocent people. Honestly, he couldn't even comprehend wanting world domination in the first place, even if it was handed to him with a card. "Dear Shikamaru, Hope this keeps you occupied for a little, use with caution, Love, Mom and Dad."

But it was irrelevant as to why someone would want it; what mattered was that he, Shikamaru, should make sure Madara didn't get it, nor did he kill other innocent victims in the process.

At the sound of yells from a distance Shikamaru stood up. A ways away he saw Ino look up from where she was healing a man with a large gash on his chest. She finished quickly and stood at the ready.

Then Shikamaru heard the screams: "BOOOOOMBS!" His eyes widened in fear. He saw Ino raise a hand to her mouth. The other troops around him began whispering frightened whispers.

Bombs were nothing new to Shinobi. From their earliest days at the Academy they were taught about exploding tags, how to set up a bomb, how to dodge an explosion, even how to deprogram the basic bombs. While this could provide comfort, it also meant that if a Shinobi was screaming out, "BOOOOOMBS!" in sheer terror, they must be no ordinary bombs. They must be incredibly dangerous, extraordinary bombs to garner such a reaction. And that was what had Shikamaru unnerved.

There were large rocky outcrops obscuring the view to the scouts half a kilometer away, but even so the first explosion was impossible to miss. Red smoke mixed with rubble shot high into the air before dissolving and leaving behind a burning sort of scent. It must have encompassed a ten-meter diameter, thought Shikamaru, but what scared him was the sound of it.

The bomb was silent. And, Shikamaru thought, it was probably tiny. That would mean that it would be near-impossible to notice when it was thrown, where it landed, or when it would explode until it was too late. Maybe the bombs were disguised as pebbles, going unnoticed if the enemy simply dropped one from his pocket mid-combat.

Another, closer explosion caused the air current around Shikamaru to waver. Soon enough the enemy- or enemies, he couldn't tell if it was a single Shinobi or multiple- would be upon them. And then good luck trying to survive.

His best bet would be capturing the enemy in his shadow, which meant that the odds were possibly in their favor if there was only one bomb-user. If someone- say, Chouji- distracted him for just a few seconds, Shikamaru could catch him in his shadow until the usual zombie-disposing crew came and took care of him. If there were more, and they travelled a fair distance apart, it would be much more difficult to capture them. And the problem was that you couldn't capture them in straight-on physical ways, like if Chouji grabbed one; all they needed to do was have a bomb in their hand, drop it in Chouji's big fist, and then Chouji would be blown to bits while the enemy, already dead, would escape. They had to be rendered completely immobile so they couldn't drop any more bombs.

About five to ten seconds had passed while Shikamaru figured that, which left very little time to fix loopholes and get into position. He slipped behind a larger boulder that gave him a better view of the path that the enemy would most likely come in through.

No sooner did he get into position than a tall, thin woman with curly red hair sprinted through the scene. "Get away!" she screamed, sounding hysterical. "I don't want any of you to die!"

Seizing his chance, Shikamaru shot out his shadow towards where she was running. He watched with terror as she took out something from her pocket- rocklike in appearance, as he had thought- and held it in her fist. She was nearing where Ino stood…

As his shadow reached her he saw her press the rock. "It's been activated!" she called in warning. She was silent with surprise when she realized she was paralyzed.

Shikamaru was only eight meters or so from where she stood, but she was very close to Ino and others. Without a second thought he began running away from all of them, forcing the bomb-using kunoichi to run with him.

"You have five seconds," the kunoichi called to him. "I'm so, so sorry about this."

Shikamaru grunted in response as he sprinted as far away as possible. Behind him he heard Ino scream out, "No! Shikamaru!" Then he heard Chouji's voice: "Shikamaru, you idiot! Get away from her!"

Then he heard huge, lumbering footsteps running after him.

"Don't do it, Chouji," Shikamaru muttered. He knew he couldn't let go of the enemy; even if she wanted anything but to attack their troops, the jutsu she was under would force her to dash back to the battlefield and unleash more bombs on the ninja. He was stuck, but at least he knew that his sacrifice would save his comrades.

But Chouji… Shikamaru knew that there were only two seconds left, and Chouji's footsteps were still in hearing range. But there was nothing he could do; he knew his friend well enough to know that no matter what he tried to say, five seconds wouldn't have been nearly enough time to convince his friend to let him sacrifice himself.

One second: Shikamaru released the shadow possession mid-stride and pushed off to propel himself another meter or so.

The explosion was silent, save for the whoosh of air as it was pushed and pulled in the force. Rocks were completely obliterated and others zoomed past Shikamaru as he sprinted one last pace. One hit the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground.

Then he felt a searing pain in his leg. He screamed out in anguish as the warm, sticky feel of blood spread quickly over his pants while his muscles were torn to shreds. Distantly he heard Chouji's cry of pain as well, but he could do nothing about it; his own agony was all he could deal with.

He felt blood spatter his whole body as the wind form the explosion whipped up the blood from his leg and the countless other cuts on his body. His vision was blurring, but as he looked down at his hands he saw they were bright red. What could he do? What could he do?

The pain from his leg was overwhelming. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay conscious much longer. Would it be death or just a temporary blackout that he was falling into? It was welcome either way if it meant leaving this pain behind. The last thing he heard as his vision faded to black was Ino's voice: "Shikamaruuuu!"

-0-0-0-0-

Whether it had been minutes, hours, or years was unknown to Shikamaru as he slowly regained consciousness. All he felt was a throbbing in his leg and a pressure on the back of his head. There were some voices around him, some familiar, some not. He mustered the strength to open his eyes to better take in his surroundings.

He was first met with the pale ceiling of a tent above him. That was followed by the blonde head of his teammate swooping down on him.

"Shikamaru! You're okay! They didn't think you'd come out of it for at least another day!" There were tears in her eyes, but what worried Shikamaru more was the cast on her arm.

"Are you okay? How long was I out?" He winced at the pain he felt when trying to do…well, anything. Even talk.

"I'm fine. I fractured my elbow two days ago, but it's healing well." She was grinning giddily. "You were out for five days. Sakura and even Tsunade worked on you, so that's why you're awake so early. Wait until I tell Chouji!"

"Chouji- how is he? I know he was running after me-" Once again the pain forced him to stop talking.

"He's…well, he's alive. You got the worse end of the stick, though. He never lost consciousness on the battlefield, only when the medic-nins brought him here so they could work on him." Her expression was somber. "He was just out of range of the explosion, thank goodness, but a shower of rocks hit him. He managed to avoid or crush most of them, but one hit the side of his head pretty hard. It gave him a concussion, but more importantly it destroyed his eardrum. He's all right now, except that he won't be able to hear out of his right ear ever again."

Shikamaru felt numb. "That's horrible. I feel terrible. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have run after me and nothing would have happened to him."

She waved his statement away with a scowl. "Don't be ridiculous, Shikamaru. You saved a lot of people. Thanks to you, the bomb-user was temporarily destroyed, which meant there was time to seal her soul and get rid of her forever. And it's Chouji; of course he would run after a friend he thought was in danger, especially his best friend. He knew what he was getting into. Besides, he was the one who carried you back. None of us could see where you had fallen, and if you had gotten help even three minutes later they say that amputation would probably have been necessary."

"Amputation?..." said Shikamaru. Only then did he notice the extensive cast on his leg that was holding it elevated from the ceiling and the bandages everywhere. "So, if amputation wasn't necessary, something must have happened still. Three minutes isn't a window between perfectly fine and amputation-worthy. You also mentioned that I had the worse end of the stick, and if the better end of the stick is losing an eardrum…"

Ino bit her bottom lip and looked away. "I'm really sorry, Shika. But…there was just so much damage. It was worse than Lee's injuries after fighting Gaara in the chunin exams; he was just crushed, but your leg was ripped and snapped and shredded. They told me...your active ninja days are over. You'll probably have to use a cane for the rest of your life. Your left leg was just too injured."

The shadow-nin blinked. He was filled with a mixture of revulsion and disbelief. However, he couldn't doubt Ino. She wouldn't tell him something like that if there was still a chance she was wrong. As an eternal optimist, she would have held off telling him something so dire and final until there was zero chance of it being fixed.

His active ninja days were over…

It amused him slightly to think about how his twelve year-old self would have reacted to that news. Years ago he would have been happy to have a very valid excuse to not have to go on missions anymore, to just stay at home and lounge about while his mother waited on him hand and foot. Today, though, it made him melancholy. While he had never reached the belligerent stage that some of his peers had, there was a certain pride he always felt when knowing he was defending the people precious to him, and the people precious to other people. Now he would be forced to watch from the sidelines as Chouji, Ino, Naruto, and the others fought for their people.

"I'm going to be useless," he said quietly.

"You won't be useless." Ino frowned. "I said _active_ ninja days are over. You can just work in a different department. Head of the Strategy Department or whatnot. You were always far more brainy than brawny, anyhow."

Ino put her good hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "Look, just focus on getting better, Shikamaru. The war is still going on, but it's winding down a lot; I don't think Madara has many more zombie-shinobi in his arsenal anymore. In a few days we'll all be back home, safe and sound. You've already done so much."

Shikamaru nodded. As she walked away he digested what she had said. While this meant he could never become a jounin, he could still become a special jounin; she was right, he could go into the Strategy Department, as she called it, and protect people from there. Granted, it might get a little embarrassing later when he became the only shinobi without a six pack, but everyone has to make sacrifices, right?

Besides, what was important was that he had protected people precious to him. It may have cost him a cane-less lifestyle, but it had saved lives. He had done his part; he had given his all. It was the end of one chapter of his life, but it was the start of another.

-0-0-0-0-

A/N: This stemmed originally from when I started thinking, "OK, so the entire Naruto world is thrust into this huge war and dozens of people are dying and all the enemies are the strongest shinobi to ever live…there is no way that this whole war can go on without anything happening to some of the main characters." Because, although Kishi tends to get his belived characters out of many sticky situations (some more realistic than others), there's no way a whole WAR can happen without any deaths. My bets are on some characters, but for now let's go for one that almost certainly will not die: Shikamaru.

Face it, Shika is one of Kishimoto's favorite characters, just behind Sasuke. Although he might have to kill Sasuke in the future for plot reasons, Shikamaru doesn't have to die.

That doesn't mean he should get off scot-free, though.

I actually have a whole list I made of which characters should (logically) die in this war, based on importance in the story and actual competency, and others who get injured (like Chouji and Shikamaru here). However, because I don't want to make all these assumptions only for them to become obsolete once the war is actually over, I won't post a bunch of death stories. Plus, I don't like writing about death so much. I don't have much experience to go on.

Anyway, as this is my first-ever -published story, feedback is much appreciated. I'm not going to call you out or get mad if you don't comment (honestly, I comment on very few, if any, of the things I read) but I'd just be interested to hear any constructive criticism you guys have. If you only have a dA account, you can also comment on the deviation that linked you to here (.com/#/d3oez1w ). Sorry if that sounds like I'm just begging for attention- I'm just always so much more self-conscious when I write than when I draw and I want to know what I did right or wrong to improve it later!


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